US20040116202A1

US20040116202A1 - Golf club structure

Info

Publication number: US20040116202A1
Application number: US10/361,497
Authority: US
Inventors: Yu-Hung Lin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-12-11
Filing date: 2003-02-11
Publication date: 2004-06-17
Also published as: JP3095154U

Abstract

The present invention discloses an improved golf club structure, characterized in that the club head connected to the club stick having a plurality of holes around the periphery of the club head, so that when the club head hits the golf ball, most of the vibration waves and sound waves generated are dispersed out of these holes to reduce the force of the vibration wave conducted to the club stick as well as the vibration to the golfer's hand in order to avoid athletic injury. In the meantime, the present invention also has the effect of lowering the noise, and thus improves the accuracy of the direction of the striking golf ball. When the club head and the club stick are coupled by adhesive, some of the adhesives permeate into said holes to enhance the strength of the coupling.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an improved golf club structure, more particularly to an improved golf club structure that reduces the vibration conducted to the rod when the golf ball is stricken in order to avoid athletic injury and improve the accuracy of the direction of striking the golf ball. In the meantime, the present invention also has the effect of lowering the noise, improving the accuracy of the direction of striking the golf ball, and enhancing the strength of the coupling between the club head and the club stick.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, a golf club is composed of a club stick and a club head, wherein the club stick at it upper end further comprises a handle for the golfer to grip; and the club head is divided into different types and shapes such as wooden club head, iron club head, and putter head according to the application of the striking. Since the wooden club head has better flexibility, therefore it is generally used for long-distance driving. Most of the iron club heads are made of alloys or soft steel materials; although these materials have better rigidity, lower center of gravity, and a flexibility lower than the wooden club head, yet the iron club head is generally used for short-distance or mid-distance stroke. Furthermore, the design with special inclination for the stroke is very suitable for striking the golf ball in all kinds of angles and in the poor landform conditions such as in the sand trap and rough. The putter head is generally made of alloys or soft steel materials as well, and is generally used for short-distance putt on the green.

In general, the material used for the golf club stick usually adopts hollow copper pipe, glass fiber, carbon fiber, or other special fiber, etc. The club stick is coupled to the club head. In other words, both of the club head and club stick are rigid. Therefore, when the club head hits a golf ball, the strong vibration wave so produced will be conducted along the club stick directly to the golfer's hands. According to Newton's third law of motion, the larger the force of the stroke, the larger is the reaction conducted to the club stick. The golfer's hand will feel numb due to the striking of the golf ball. If the golfer cannot strike the ball with correct pose, it may cause athletic injury after playing such game for long time.

Further, the vibration wave produced from striking the golf ball is an external force, which is conducted to the golfer's hands along the club stick and will affect the stability of gripping the club. Furthermore, it will affect the accuracy of the striking direction. Traditionally, the beginner needs to take a long-time practice to improve the striking accuracy, and the expenses for the golf game is higher than other sports. It discourages the beginners and makes them lose their confidence under the situation of gaining not much improvement for a long-time practice as well as spending lots of money.

In another aspect, the coupling between the club stick and club head of the golf club is roughly divided into two types: the first type is to insert the club stick into the insert hole disposed on the neck section of the club head, and then a mechanical component such as a twig or a rivet is nailed into the preset hole of the neck section of the club head and the club stick; the second type is to use an adhesive such as epoxy resin to coat the lower end of the club stick and the insert hole of the club head, and then insert the stick with coated adhesive into the insert hole of the club head. In the second type, the improved quality of adhesive can give a good coupling, but the sticky interface of the club stick may be loosened easily. Thus it will lower the coupling strength and has the shortcoming of falling off.

Therefore, the present invention focuses on the aforementioned shortcoming of the traditional golf club for the improvement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an improved golf club structure that can reduce the strength of the vibration wave conducted to the club stick when the golf ball is hit to avoid athletic injury and enhance the accuracy of the direction of striking the golf ball.

The secondary objective of the present invention is to reduce the noise generated when the club head hits the golf ball.

Another objective of the present invention is to further improve the coupling strength of the sticky interface when the club head and the club stick are coupled with adhesive.

To accomplish these objectives, the present invention comprises a plurality of openings disposed around the periphery of the neck section of club head that is connected to the club stick, such that most of the vibration waves and sound waves produced when the golf ball is hit will be dispersed out from these openings, and further reduce the vibration of the golfer's hands to avoid athletic injury. In the meantime, the present invention has the effect of lowering the noise. While reducing the vibration, it can also improve the accuracy of striking the golf ball. The aforementioned opening further improves the coupling strength by permeating some of the adhesives into the opening when the club head and club stick are coupled with adhesives.

To make it easier for our examiner to understand the objective of the invention, its structure, innovative features, and performance, we use a preferred embodiment together with the attached drawings for the detailed description of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: [0014]
FIG. 1 is a diagram of the disassembled parts of the club head structure and the combined relation of the club head and the club stick of the present invention. [0015]
FIG. 2 is a diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention with the opening in spiral shape being disposed on the sidewall of the neck section of the club head. [0016]
FIG. 3 is a diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention with the opening in linear shape being disposed on the sidewall of the neck section of the club head. [0017]
FIG. 4 is a diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention with the opening in triangular shape being disposed on the sidewall of the neck section of the club head. [0018]
FIG. 5 is a diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention with the opening in circular shape being disposed on the sidewall of the neck section of the club head. [0019]
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional diagram of part of the opening that the adhesive can permeate when the club head and club stick are coupled with adhesive according to the present invention. [0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Refer to FIG, [0021] 1 for the golf club of the present invention comprising a club head 1 and a club stick 2; the club head having a neck section 11 integrally disposed at an upper end of the club head 1 and an insert hole 12 disposed at an end of the neck section 11; a plurality of openings 13 disposed on the sidewall surrounding the neck section 11 of the club head 1; such opening 13 could be in the spiral shape and arranged on the sidewall surrounding the neck section 11 of the club head 1. Alternatively, the opening 13 could be in linear shape as shown in FIG. 3, and arranged on the sidewall surrounding the neck section 11 of the club head 1, or the opening 13 could be in triangular shape as shown in FIG. 4, and arranged on the sidewall surrounding the neck section 11 of the club head 1, or the opening 13 could be in circular shape as shown in FIG. 5, and arranged on the sidewall surrounding the neck section 11 of the club head 1. The structure with such opening disposed on the sidewall surrounding the neck section 11 of the club head 1 is applicable to the wooden club head, iron club head, and putter head. Since the structure is the same, therefore the wooden club head is used as an embodiment for illustration in the diagram.
By means of the [0022] opening 13 disposed on the sidewall surrounding the neck section 11 of the club head 1, the strong vibration wave produced when striking a golf ball is conducted to the neck section 11, and some of the vibration waves are dispersed out from the opening 13, and the remaining vibration waves will be greatly reduced when they are conducted to the club stick 2. Such effect is very similar to the fire-extinguishing hood at the front end of the barrel of a riffle, so that it can reduce the recoil and vibration. After the vibration is reduced, the stability for the golfer holding the club will be improved, and further enhances the accuracy of the direction of the striking ball. Such arrangement allows beginners to master the golfing technique within a short time, which is very helpful on building up the confidence of the player. In addition, the reduction of the vibration can avoid athletic injury to the hands of the player for the long-time play of the game.
Refer to FIG. 6 for the structure of the present invention having a plurality of [0023] openings 13 disposed at the club head 1. When the club stick 2 coated with adhesive 3 is inserted into the insert hole 12 of club head 1 also coated with adhesive, some of the adhesives permeate into the opening 13 to supplement the coupling interface between the club stick 2 and the club head 1 after the adhesive in the opening 13 is hardened, so that the coupling strength of the club stick 2 and the club head 1 is improved, and they will not fall apart easily.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures. [0024]

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An improved golf club structure, comprising a club head and a club stick; the club head having a neck section, and the neck section having an insert hole; an end of the club stick being inserted into the insert hole, characterized in that: an opening or concave groove disposed at a sidewall surrounding the neck section of the club head to reduce vibration and noise when striking the golf ball.

2. An improved golf club structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein said opening is in a spiral shape, and at least one opening being disposed at the sidewall surrounding the neck section of the club head.

3. An improved golf club structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein said opening is linear in shape, and at least one opening being disposed at the sidewall surrounding the neck section of the club head.

4. An improved golf club structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein said opening Is triangular in shape, and at least one opening being disposed at the sidewall surrounding the neck section of the club head.

5. An improved golf club structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein said opening is circular in shape, and at least one opening being disposed at the sidewall surrounding the neck section of the club head.